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Susannah Spurgeon
1832 - 1892
While
Susannah Spurgeon
will always be
remembered as the
faithful wife and
encourager of the
great preacher
Charles Haddon
Spurgeon, she
deserves recognition
in her own right by
the Christian Church
in connection with
her fund for
supplying
theological books to
clergymen and
ministers too poor
to buy them. The
importance of this
Christian work
should not be
overlooked or
underestimated. At
the time in which
Mrs. Spurgeon lived,
many ministers
living in England
were given such a
poor wage that they
could barely feed
their families, let
alone buy books to
help them grow
spiritually and
improve their
ministries. In fact,
when the Book Fund
was started it was
discovered that many
ministers had not
been able to buy a
new book for ten
years!
Mrs.
Spurgeon was born
Susannah Thompson on
January 15, 1832 to
Mr. and Mrs. R.B.
Thompson in the
Southern suburbs of
the City of London.
She was raised in a
godly home and had
earnest Christian
friends as she grew
up and she herself
became a Christian
as a young girl. But
since, in those
days, there were not
many organizations
or churches that
encouraged young
believers to pursue
Christian service
and or further their
knowledge of God,
there was a coldness
and indifference
common to the youth
of that day,
Susannah included.
In 1852,
Susannah saw for the
first time the man
that was to become
her beloved husband.
He was a mere youth
of 19 and had been
asked to preach in
the famous Park
Street Chapel in
London and at the
insistence of her
friends she attended
the service. At this
point in her life,
Susannah had grown
so spiritually cold
that she didn’t
understand the clear
Gospel preaching of
this young man and
she was not
impressed with his
preaching.
When C.H.
Spurgeon finally
accepted the
pastorate of New
Park Street Chapel,
Miss Thompson often
saw him at the home
of her dear friends
Mr. and Mrs. Olney
who were members of
the church. Though
they saw each other
often, neither Mr.
or Mrs. Spurgeon
remembers their
first introduction.
It appears that it
didn’t take long for
Susannah to get over
her prejudices
regarding Charles as
a preacher and she
soon realized her
Christian life was
far from what it
should be. Mr.
Spurgeon soon heard
of Susannah’s desire
to improve her
Christian walk and
gave her and
illustrated copy of
“The Pilgrim’s
Progress” to help
her along that path.
She was very
impressed by his
concern for her and
from that time on
their friendship
grew and it wasn’t
long that it
blossomed into love.
Charles and Susannah
were married on
January 8, 1856.
On September
20, 1856, Susannah
gave birth to a set
of twin boys in her
New Kent Road home.
She remained weak
for some time after
the birth of her
sons and, though she
eventually
recovered, she never
again gained full
and robust health.
Much of Susannah’s
life was spent
suffering from
physically ailments
that kept her
bedridden for long
periods of time.
Although
weak and ailing much
of her adult life,
Susannah was a
faithful trainer of
her two sons in
Christian doctrine
and she had the joy
of seeing them both
become Christians at
an early age. When
they became grown
men, both of her
boys publicly
recognized how much
the influence of
their mother’s
example and teaching
played a part in
their conversion.
Charles
Spurgeon was a
prolific writer and
had most of his
sermons published.
In the summer of
1875 he completed
the first volume of
“Lectures to my
Students” and he
gave his wife a
proof copy of the
book, asking for her
opinion. She told
her husband that she
wished she could
place that volume in
the hands of every
minister in England.
To that her husband
replied, “Then why
not do so: how much
will you give?”
Susannah was
not prepared for his
question, but it
challenged her to
see if she could
spare the money from
her housekeeping or
personal account to
fulfill her wish. At
that time she
remembered some
money that she had
put away whenever
she had some extra.
She went to her room
and got the money
and when it was
counted she realized
that she had enough
money to pay for one
hundred copies of
the work. It was in
that instant that
the Book Fund was
born.
The next
issue of “The Sword
and the Trowel”, a
magazine which was a
magazine put out by
her husband,
contained an
announcement of Mrs.
Spurgeon’s intention
of giving out the
books and inviting
poor Baptist
ministers to apply
for the book. The
applications proved
more numerous than
she anticipated and
in that first
distribution she
gave out two hundred
copies instead of
the one hundred she
originally proposed.
In the following
issue of his
publication, Charles
told of the many
ministers desiring
new books to
increase their
knowledge and
improve their
ministries and of
the Book Fund that
Susannah created to
fulfill these needs.
Money began to come
in to finance the
Book Fund so that
books could be
provided to needy
ministers.
Susannah
continued the work
of the Book Fund for
the rest of her
life. Her last
thoughts before her
death were for the
Book Fund, and for
the poor ministers
who were benefited
by its aid. In her
will she left a sum
of money for the
assistance of the
work.
Besides the
support she gave her
husband in his
ministry, the time
she spent raising
and training her
boys, and the work
she did with the
Book Fund, Susannah
Spurgeon gave a good
deal of time to
literary work. Her
most treasured work
was “C.H. Spurgeon’s
Autobiography,
compiled from his
Diary, Letters, and
Records”. As a
writer, Susannah had
a rare literary
gift. She wrote
several books in her
lifetime including
“Ten Years of My
Life in the Service
of the Book Fund”,
“Ten Years After”,
and several
devotional books.
If greatness
is determined by the
amount of good a
person does in the
world, if it is only
another name for
unselfish devotion
in the service of
others, then
Susannah Spurgeon go
down in history as
one of the greatest
women of her time.
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